Modvat credit cannot be denied for using the only invoice copy issued, if the department fails to rebut the claim.

Modvat credit could not be denied merely because the assessee relied on the customer's copy of the stockyard invoice, where that was the only invoice form issued during the relevant period and the department produced no rebuttal. The tribunal accepted the assessee's explanation that duplicate transporter copies were introduced only later, and noted that receipt and use of duty-paid inputs in manufacture were not in dispute. On that basis, the absence of a duplicate copy did not defeat credit entitlement, and the claim was allowed.

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Issues: Whether Modvat credit was admissible when taken on the basis of the customer's copy/original invoice issued by the stockyard, in the absence of any rebuttal to the claim that only such copy was being issued during the relevant period.

Analysis: The disallowance rested solely on the ground that credit had been taken on the customer's copy issued by the stockyard. The assessee asserted that during the relevant period the supplier was issuing only that copy and that duplicate transporter copies were introduced only later. No material was produced by the department to disprove this stand. The tribunal relied on the earlier view that a supplier's certificate showing the later introduction of duplicate invoices supported the assessee's explanation, and there was no dispute regarding receipt and use of duty-paid inputs in manufacture.

Conclusion: Modvat credit could not be denied on the ground invoked by the department, and the claim was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the assessee establishes that the document used for credit was the only invoice type being issued by the supplier during the relevant period and the department fails to rebut that position, Modvat credit cannot be denied merely for want of a duplicate transporter copy.

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